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68 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2006 BOOK REVIEW

Donnelly, M. A., B. I. Crother, C. Guyer, M. H. Wake, and M.
E. White (eds.). 2005. Ecology & Evolution in the Tropics: A
Herpetological Perspective. The University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, Illinois. 675 pp. Softcover. ISBN 0-226-15658-3.
$45.00 (hardcover also available for $95.00).1

This edited volume contains a short foreword by Luis D.
Gómez dedicating this compendium to Jay M. Savage

(author of the monumental 2002 book: The Amphibians and
Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continents,
between Two Seas), a brief preface acknowledging a host of con-
tributors and reviewers, 18 separately authored chapters organ-
ized into two sections (“Part I: Evolution and Biogeography”
and “Part II: Ecology, Biogeography, and Faunal Studies”), fol-
lowed by a 65-page listing of references, affiliations of con-
tributing authors, and extensive indices to subjects and taxa.

Although typically organized around a central theme, col-
lections of contributed papers often suffer from deficiencies in
focus that might be inevitable in many instances. In this
instance, the individual chapters often provide extensive, useful,
and timely information, but an almost total lack of cohesion and
continuity leaves the reader feeling that they might as well have
appeared separately in scientific journals. Only the connection
of many of the contributors to Jay Savage (whose publications
and interests were as diverse as this collection) and a general
tropical theme unite them.

However, even the “tropical” theme so prominently fea-
tured in the title is misleading (might this have been imposed by
the publisher in order to entice a more diverse readership?).
Only a few systematic chapters address taxa found north of
Costa Rica, only one (on taxonomic theory) is widely applica-
ble, only one (on evolution of anoles assigned to the genus
Norops) touches on the West Indies, and only three (on higher-
level snake phylogeny, elapid relationships, and long-term frog
monitoring by local people in Papua New Guinea) focus largely
on areas outside the Neotropics. The title promised a much
broader overview.

Consequently, the value of this volume must be evaluated on
the basis of its individual parts. These vary from the theoretical to
practical and highly technical to readable and entertaining. All are
professionally written and edited, and adequately illustrated
(although the volume cries out for more illustrations of especially
the more unfamiliar taxa discussed in many chapters). However,
many are so narrow in scope that few readers will find more than
a couple of chapters applicable to their own interests.

Part I begins with Arnold Kluge proposing a new system of
classification, which he illustrates by using eublepharid geckos.
His rankless hierarchy of names effectively reflects phylogenetic
relationships and is undoubtedly superior to traditional Linnaean
nomenclature in doing so. Whether its utility in this context will
lead to wide acceptance remains to be seen. Chapter 2, by
Marvalee Wake, Gabriela Parra-Olea, and Judy Sheen, examines
phylogenetic relationships in Central American caecilians.
Although data generated by using various techniques have yet to
establish an unambiguous phylogeny for these poorly known fos-
sorial amphibians, current data have shed new light on evolu-
tionary patterns of reproductive modes. David Wake, in Chapter
3, uses phylogenetic and distributional information to infer how
Costa Rican salamanders radiated to fill their current niches.
Wake concludes his chapter with a very timely discussion of
amphibian declines in Costa Rica. Chapter 4, by Ronald Heyer,
Rafael de Sá, and Sarah Muller, addresses conflicting hypotheses
seeking to explain the distribution of Leptodactylus silvanimbus, a

Ecology and Evolution 
in the Tropics

B O O K  R E V I E W

1 This review is being published simultaneously in the Bulletin of the
Chicago Herpetological Society.

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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2006 69BOOK REVIEW

frog found only in the cloud forests of Honduras. The authors
conclude that the species is a relict and has no close relationships
with any other Middle American forms. Shyh-Hwang Chen, in
Chapter 5, uses chromosomal data to elucidate historical rela-
tionships in two groups of Eleutherodactylus frogs from Central
America. In Chapter 6, Sharon Emerson examines the physio-
logical basis of sexual dimorphism in frogs. The next two chap-
ters deal with snake phylogeny. Chapter 7, by Mary White,
Maria Kelly-Smith, and Brian Crother, examines the origins of
snakes, whereas Chapter 8, by the late Joseph Slowinski and
Robin Lawson, takes a narrower view by using molecular data to
elucidate relationships among elapids. The last chapter in this sec-
tion, by Harry Greene and Roy McDiarmid, honors Alfred
Russel Wallace and Jay Savage for their contributions to our
understanding of venomous snake mimicry. For both its histor-
ical value and well-written evaluations of mimicry systems, this
may be the most broadly appealing and even entertaining con-
tribution in the entire volume. The content entices even non-
snake biologists with its potentially wider applications, and the
very subject is so innately fascinating that any biologist, profes-
sional or amateur, will be entranced.

Part II begins with Karen Lips using a detailed examination
of a single breeding season of the recently described, leaf-breed-
ing frog, Hyla calypsa, to evaluate reproductive modes in tropical
anurans. In Chapters 11 and 12, Craig Guyer and Maureen
Donnelly explore interspecific competition among co-occurring
hylid frogs at a reproductive site in Costa Rica and Norman Scott
and Luz Aquino describe foraging strategies of frogs in the Gran
Chaco of Paraguay. I love the title of the latter, “It’s a Frog-Eat-
Frog World in the Paraguayan Chaco,” and I very much appre-
ciate the color plates that illustrated a few of the species men-
tioned (as indicated previously, many of the other chapters would
have benefited from doing the same). David Bickford, in Chapter
13, uses a study in Papua New Guinea to describe how an inte-
grated conservation and development project can be used to
answer scientific questions about frog diversity and conservation.
Although narrowly focused, this contribution has broad applica-
bility for similar projects that might be designed and imple-
mented in developing tropical nations throughout the world. In
Chapter 14, Kirsten Nicholson focuses on mainland taxa to
explore the origins and radiation of anoles placed in the genus
Norops. Similarly, in Chapter 15, Steven Werman used phyloge-
nies for Neotropical pitvipers to infer a most likely historical sce-
nario. Chapters 16 and 17 present faunal inventories by Roy

McDiarmid and Jay Savage (of the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica)
and by Maureen Donnelly, Megan Chen, and Graham Watkins
(of the Iwokrama Forest in Guyana). The volume’s final chapter
presents an overview of the presumably ancient herpetofaunal
diversity of Guyanan tepuis, odd, elevated geological formations
that form habitat islands within a broad region.

Because of Jay Savage’s vast body of work and the fact that
contributors are linked to him by academic genealogy or col-
laboration, a few common ideological threads are apparent.
Both detailed phylogenetic studies and examinations of natu-
ral history traits are of tremendous value in expanding our
understanding of amphibians and reptiles. Combining them is
less common, of even greater value, and some of the chapters
in this volume are testament to Savage’s example for integrated
studies using various methods once thought to be independent
or even mutually exclusive of one another. On the other hand,
formal recognition of the genus Norops, for example, although
advocated by many scientists who study mainland anoles, is less
enthusiastically received by others who work primarily in the
West Indies. Similarly, historical biogeographies that emphasize
vicariance versus over-water dispersal for the origins of many
West Indian species are less than universally accepted.
Presenting these without discussion of alternative hypotheses
does the uninformed reader a disservice by implying a concor-
dance that doesn’t exist.

So, who should buy (or at least read) this book? Professional
herpetologists will certainly find at least a few chapters of inter-
est, conservation biologists should definitely read the chapter by
David Bickford on using local resources when implementing
conservation projects, and everyone should read Harry Greene
and Roy McDiarmid’s chapter on mimicry. Although relatively
inexpensive by modern standards, I doubt that very many non-
professionals will find enough of interest to justify purchasing
the volume. Instead, they should prevail on friends who make
the plunge or on the nearest university library to read the selec-
tions applicable to their own interests.

Robert Powell
Avila University

Kansas City, Missouri

Leptodactylus silvanimbus, found only in the cloud forests of Honduras,
is the subject of one of the very few chapters addressing Neotropical
species found north of Costa Rica.

JA
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The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris), mistakenly attributed to South
America, was used as an outgroup in the analysis of relationships
among anoles assigned to the genus Norops.

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